It cannot be because you have studied your Bible and reached the conclusion that Jesus failed to establish His kingdom. It is impossible for God to lie and He promised that in the days of the fourth world power from Babylon, that He would set up His kingdom (Dan. 2:44) . Any doctrine whose conclusion is that God lied is a false doctrine. Jesus promised to give the keys of the kingdom to the apostles (Matt. 16:19). If Jesus took the kingdom back to heaven then the apostles were not given the keys, which once again makes God a liar.
The truth would be that which sets men free (John 8:32). Isaiah said that part of the work of the Jesus the Messiah would be that He would “…proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of prison to them that were bound.” (Isa. 62:1). Men’s souls are purified by obeying the truth that sets men free (I Peter 1:22). The Rapture doctrine makes these and other scriptures present God as a failure to do what He set out to do. It was the Holy Spirit that inspired men to say that Jesus was delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God (Acts 2:4;23). It would be hard to praise God if He failed at doing the one thing He set out to do, that is save man.
Men then cannot believe in the Rapture by studying the scriptures. Why then do they believe in the Rapture? The teaching being done stresses the great battle in which the evil will be defeated (Rev. 16:16). People then, no matter how bad their life gets can get false hope that soon the Lord will return and all their problems will vanish. There may be many reasons why people accept the Rapture but this is the one I would like to focus in on in this article.
Jesus warned the apostles that they would be put out of the synagogues and the ones who killed them would think they were doing God a service (John 16:2). The Lord likewise told them that the world has hated Him and it would likewise hate them (John 15: 18). James said Christians would fall into all kinds of temptations (James 1:2). Such trials would be the trying of their faith in God (verse 3). Brethren in Smyrna were warned that some of them would be placed in prison and even some have to face death (Rev. 2:10). Paul lists some of the suffering he had endured because of following Christ (2 Cor. 11:23-28). Consider the weight of their journey and then explain why they did not give up?
We are well over 2000 years from their lives. Why then be concerned about some battle happening at a place called Armageddon? The belief in Armageddon drives those who believe in the Rapture to fail to live today. Jesus taught that none of us know what will be on the morrow (Matt. 6:34). Our lives, implying daily sacrifices to God, shows we should be living for God and not waiting for some imaginary battle for the evil ones to be defeated. The assurance to the Christian in daily living for Christ is that God will always provide a way of escape out of our temptations (I Cor. 10:13). He further assures us that He will never leave us nor forsake us (Heb. 13:5). Nothing then can transpire in our lives today that God is not aware of.
In a world in which fear is brought about by nations and individuals it is time for those of us who will follow Christ is to get men’s minds off of the sky and focus instead on our own hearts and the hearts of those around us. The doctrine of “once saved, always saved” is nothing more than a “kissing cousin” to the Rapture. They both teach about the future and place no responsibility on living for Jesus each day of our lives by obeying Him (Heb. 5:9).